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Union — Peace — Popular Rights. 



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SPEECH 

OF 

EDWARD JOY MORRIS 

OF PENNSYLVANIA, 

In tlio U. S. HousG of Representatives, January 30, 1861. 




T!t> H )u=e having nude- consid?r.ition t'le report f ora the -elect comni'ttee of 
ilr y three — 

Mr. MOlUilS, o" Pennsylvania, sai<i : 

M . Fpeakkk: Great as are th? perils by wliich the Uni>n i; 3U-rniinde^, I cannot 
permit myself '.o believe that th'V are in^-nrm nintable, unle'? we are destit i e of the 
virtues to whch i rwes its origin I trust that we are not so mnch estranged b/ 
sectional animosities as to be una 1" to a-r^e f n some plan of conciliation for the 
prescrvntiou of the Ciion. Convinc d. as 1 am, that t e e is no just cause for the 
preirnt trou' les, and lonst o*" aU in the ehcii >n of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, 
I am nererlbeless, d s 0?eil to ussen' to any hon'-nble plan of se t eiient which shall 
pecure ptrmancnt pea e between the two aireat seetio: s of the ou- try. 

Our ance tors deemed no ^ac ifines tno grt-nt to scciir.i lie ITnion of the Stati 8 
und r the pveitnt fornof eoveriimt-nf. When the con^iit .lio al c nvention mtt, it 
was found -hat he inter sts o the tree and slire States -ver • conflctina', and that, 
unless mutual concession was m d-, a united Govirnuie it c ul I nol be established, 
t; mmcr.e was the great inttresl o the Northern Siates, and slave LJjor that of tha 
tiuulhern Slates. U der ihe then mi^'injj onfedera ion, ea h S. ale had its own commer- 
cial regilations, which ren 'ered t'l em as foreij^i^ne to the other, i r the pnrprseS of 
trade, as were the king 'oras of Kurope to them all. Ti.e reniova' of thee obstaclea 
to commercial in'ercou'-g^ -^n^ o le of the chef causes which ii.fluenc. d the people of 
the seaboard Slates of ihe Ni.nh in f-ivor of Un on. If the c.xcusive power to 
regulate commerce could be H.Jaigui-J 'o Congress, the pros, eri y of ihe^e Stated 
woud be secmv'd b9yot^d doubt. 

When thij 'juestion cjl e up for cju^ideration, llie members from the SoU'hern 
States refused to ente tain it uale;» a re i rocal concession should be ma e to iheir 
InterfStB. Mr. Rulledge expressed his willingness to su' port tlie clnuse giving Con- 
gress power over commerce, on condition tha* the subsequent clause, that " C ngre33 
shall paS:: no lav prohibiting the immigration or importation of negroes, should a'so 
he agree 1 to. .Mr. Charles Pinckae jai 1 : 

" T.ie power of rr-jj'ilating com-.nerce is a pure coutession o \ the part of the .South' 
ern States." 

Mr. 0. C. Pinckney said : 

" It is the true interest of the Southern States to have no r'='gulft'!on of commerce." 



An issue was thus directly made between the commercial interests of the North and 
the labor interests of the South. Mr. Pinckney said : 

" S uth Carolina can never receive the plan, if it prohibits the slave trade." 

Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, said : 

" If the convenli n thinks that North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, will 
eve- agree to the plan, unless their right to import slaves be untouched, the expecta- 
tion is va II. ■' 

Mr. G. Morris, of P>nn ylvania, proposed to recommit the clauses relating to taxea 
on « xports, and to a navigation act, " with a view to a bargain between the Northern 
and Southern fetates." Mr. Ellsworth, of Connecticut, in the same spirit of compro- 
mise, said : 

"Let every State im'->ort what it pleases. The morality or wisdom of slavery are 
considerations belonging to the States themselves. What enriches a part enriches the 
whole; and the States are the best judges of their particular interest." 

Mr. Shepman, of the sams State, said : 

"He disapproved of the slave trade; but did not think the public good required 
that the proposed scheme of government should interfere with the rights of the States 
to import slaves. It was bet er to let the Southern Sta es impart slaves than to part 
with them, it they made that a sine qua no?i." 

This struggle led to a compromise between the North and South, by which the" 
former gained for Corgress exclusive power over commerce, and the latter the tolera- 
tion of the African slave trade for twenty-one years— to 1808. The rapid growth and 
present exttnsion of slavery in the United States is' chiefly owing to the importation 
of slaves during this period. At no subsequent time has slavery increased at such a 
ratio as between 1*787 and 1808, as is demonstrated by the following table of the pro- 
gress of the slave population from 1789 to 1850, showing the increase per cent, in 
each period of ten years : 

North Carolina. South Carolina. Georgia. 

1790 to 1800 32.52 36.46 102.99 

1800 to 1810 26 65 34.45 77 12 

1810 to 1820 21.43 31.62 , 42 33 

1820 to 1830 19.79 22.62 45.35 

1830 to 1840 08 3.68 29.15 

1840 to 1850 17.38 17.71 " 35.85 

The part of the compromise relating to the slave traie was adopted by the votes of 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, Georgia- oy, 7. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia — no, 4. Mr. 
Madison foresaw the evils to result from the extension of the slave trade, and he is re- 
ported as saying, in the convention, that twenty years would produce all the mischief 
apjrehended from the slave trade. The necessity for union, however, was so pressing, 
and such vital interests were at stake on its adoption, that the New England States, 
where the host lity to slavery has always been the strongest, were willing to render 
certain iti permanent establishment in the country, rather than risk the loss of the 
Union. 

I refer, Mr. Speaker, to this passage in our history, to show of what importance was 
a Union of the States in the estimation of our ancestors, and to what extremes they 
were willing to go to secure it. If, sir, I now avow that I am willing to make all rea- 
sonable compromise and concession for the maintenance of the Union, I am only follow- 
ing the example of the wise men who framed the Constitution of the United States. 
Had they refused to compromise antagonistic views and interests, the Union could not 
have been fo med. In my opinion, if we obstioately resist the adoption of concilia- 
tory measures, the Union stands in imminent danger of dissolution. I know, sir, that 
in urging this policy, I shall run counter to the prejudices of those who regulate their 



action exclusively by party platforms, and not by the interests of the country. For my 
pan, I will never subordinate the existence of the Republic to the behests of party, or 
the dicta of mere politicians, who would rather see the Union perish than deviate a 
point from the pai ty creed. The voice of the country, in this hour of extreme peril, 
rises above the clamor of contending factions, and appeals to us with an impressive 
emphasis that no man with a patriotic heart can resist. That summons I obey ; and, 
regardless of personal conseq iences, I shall pursue what I deem to be the path of duty 
and honor. 

I need hardly say, sir, that I have no sympathy with the assumed right of secession. 
It has no justification in fact or constitutional construction. Our ancestors had gone 
through the experimental trials of colonial confederations, the continental Congress, 
and a confederation of sovereign States, and they had found them all unavailable for 
the purposes of a solid, substantial Union, and a graud permanent Government. After 
all these tri;ils, they came to the conclusion that it was necessary for the States to 
surrender a part of their independence, for the purpose of obtaining the protection of 
a General Government, which should represent the aggregated States to the world as 
a political unit. Tliis object was attained in the Constitution of the United States. 

In the Antilles of Confederation, each State (see art. 2) retained its sovereignty. 
In the Constitution no such reservation is made. The former system was a league of 
States for mutual defence and welfare. It was intended to operate on the States as 
such, and not on individuals. The latter is not a Government of the States, but of the 
people. 'Article three of tbe Articles of Confederation says : 

"The SMid Stales hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each 
other," &j. 

The preamble of -he Constitution says : 

" We, the people of the United Slates, in order to form a more perfect Union, estab- 
lish justice, in.-ure dome.-tic tranquillity, provide f'lr the common defence, pronmte the 
general welfttre, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posieri y, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution Ijr the United States of America." 

Formed by the people, the whole people, of the United States, its existence is 
depende it on them, and not on the Stntes ; and it can only be dissolved by the power 
that gave it birth ; Spates may pass ordinances of seccession, but they cannot over- 
throw the fdbric erjcted by the source of all political authority in this country — the 
people. 

The imbecili'y of the Confederation was owing to its dependence on the States, the 
assent of nine being req lis te to carry into eflfect the most impoitant powers of Con- 
gress. Until this a.ssen was obtained, money could not be borrowed or appropiiatcd, 
war could n t be deela'ed ire tif>s f Tmed, nor money coined. In an impor ant cri- 
sis, when the fite of the n tion might depend on the rompt and independent ac ion 
of the centr.il G vernmen', it was in the power of a single St-ite to arrest i;s mjve- 
ment. The peril) i.f such a dependeice were so great, a d the want of p /wer fo all 
practic 1 purposes so evide it, th'it a strong, self-sus aining national Government 
could not b^ s lid to exi t. In order to est 'blish such a Government tbe Con^ti u'i n 
rendered be Fede-al Gjvemmsnc i idependeat o' State control, and capable of execu- 
ting its own dec ees. It expre s'y decl.tre-, in sect o i two, article six, that — 

" This Consii u ion, snd the laws of the United S'ates whxh shal be made i'l pu fu- 
ance the eof, a d a 1 tr a ies m ide or which shrtll be madiU dr the an hor.ty of the 
y^nited Stat- , slia I be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every t-iate 
shall be b iind thert-b , anythfug lu the Constitution or laws of any Stale tj the con- 
trary no wi hs" tnd n." 

It is absurd to attempt to justify secession Viy the Conslitution, when that intru- 
ment is made the supreme law tf the land, and the executive and judicial officers of 



the State, as well as the Legislatures thereof, are bound by oath to regard and obey 
it as such. Its action cannot be arrested by State authori'y ; and the S ates are 
Bubo-dinate powers. If any one State could obstruct its op' rations, the jmrposes of 
the Union would be frustrated, and the Feitral Gj?ornment w uld bo shorn of its 
legitimate power, and reduced to a condition of vassalage to the Siates. Its laws 
could not be supreme if they could be set at. defiance by the States. To admit the 
supremacy of the Federal power, and to claim for the States the right to contr 1 or 
override t, is so glaring an absurdity, that it ne-ds only to be stated to be admitted. 
The States are fxpressly restrained by the Constitution from invading the sphere 
of the Federal Go>-ernment, or usurping it= functions : 

"No State shall, without the consent i f Cong ess, lay any duty o^ tonnage, kepp 
troops or ships-of-war in time of peace, ent-r into any agre^m^nt or compact with 
another State, or with a foreign Power, or rngnge in war, unless actually invaded, or 
in such imminent danger as wi 1 not admit of delay." — Sec. 10, Art. 1. 

The Constitution was intended to form " a more perfect Union " than the Confedera- 
tion, the chief defect of which was the paralyzing power of the States over the Gen- 
eral Government. If secession and nullification are to be tolerated, instead of being 
" a more perfect Union," it will be more impotent than the Confederation itself. The 
present Constitution was not limited in duration, or its existence put at the mercy of 
any inferior authority, but it was made for all time to come — in the words of the pre- 
amble — "for ourselves and our posterity." No State can withdraw from the Confed- 
eracy without violating the plain intent of the Constitution, and comrjitting a most 
flagrant breach of faith. Having embarked our fortunes in a common bottom, any 
Stite which breaks the Union jeopardizes the welfare of the whole fraternity o' sister 
States, and justifies armed resistance on iheir part for the preservation o' the Union. 
Secession is nothing else than a declaration of war against the Union ; and if it is 
met by a hostile response frona the Federal Government, the plotters of t.eason must 
be held for the consequences. 

It would be strange, indeed, if the United States alone, of all the Governments that 
have flourished from the beg'nning of history, had not a ight (o de'end its own ex- 
istence. The right which every man has to protect his own life, is denied to it. It 
must permit the forts, arsenals, and navy yards, the property of the nation, and de- 
signed for the protection of the people of all the States, to be plundered and per.^erted 
to the uses of separate States, without making an efFot to prevent this wholesale 
spolia'ion. If the Capitol of the Republic is menaced by an a mfd invasion of trai'ors, 
the regular army cannot be summoned to its defence without, wounding the sensibil - 
ties of these pseudo-patriots, who seem to look upon the Federal Government as hav- 
ing no individually whatsoever, and as existing only at the will of the Statea, any 
one of which may defy its authority, and plunder its property w^ith impunity. If 
such ideas be correct, then the Federal Government is no Government at all, ^or it 
wants the first element of a Government — t*>e power to repel aggression, and vindicate 
its dignity and independence. It lives l.y sufferance; and c nnot be relied on, if such 
reasoning be true, to protect either the lives or properties of those who live under it. 

It has the outward form and features of a Government; but it is a lifeless skeleton 

a mere image of political vigor. 

Such was not the k nd of Government our ancestors aimed to establish, or they 
would have remained satisfied with the feeble systems it supplanted, f^xperience had 
taught them that they could neither attain a respectable position among the nations 
of the world, nor secure prosperity and eecu ity at home, but through the instrument- 
ality of a strong Government. Fo:- this reison, the Executive was invested with an 
authority, a most equal to that of some of the covereigns of constitutional monarchies, 



and the Slat-s surrendere.l to he Federal Government iheir most chprished preroga- 
tive'. Th<>3- nevt-r dre i:n d tbiit tbe Government tbey constructed could be reduced 
to such a helpless condiliou as that in whi<h the advocates of secession seek to place 
the Federal Government, bound hand und foot, without the power to ward off the 
blows directed against it. It may be coerced into subordination to the purposes of 
the States, but it C'nnot en'oroe its author ty accord n/ lo the forms of the Constitu- 
tion. It n^.ust sub i-it to every sort of outrage in silence, and with a meek and patient 
8,iirit, however grievous the wrong perpetrated, or contemptible the ass ilant. It must 
consent to its own degr :da ion, and to the dish nor of the American n ime, and to the 
destruction of every semhlami o" American nationality ; and all because one or more 
States, u- d- r the ins|>'r.itio3 of a depraved political ambition, seek its destruction for 
their cwn disloyal and selfish purposes. If all thij be so, Mr. Speaker, the career of 
t' is Government is at an end ; it has ceaa d to have anj. vital power ; and the sooner 
it is abolished in name, a? it is in }eaU!y, the better. 

Hut, sir, I cannot believe that the people of the United States are ready for the sac- 
rifice of this, the best system of natioaa Government ever devised by human wisdom. 
Its voluntary overthrow by the American people would be the greatest national suicide 
ever committed : it would be nn act of politic 1 insanity \^ithout a pa'-a'lel. Had it 
redounded to our injury, had it cramped the energies, fettered the ^.Towth, and ob- 
Btru-ted the moral atid mite i^l progress of the nation, there might be some excuse 
for the f enziel hostility lately manifested against it. But when on the contrary, it 
has done mo'e for the people ■* ho have lived under it than any other Government 
sinc^ the origin of h"story, ju.iklng us at the same lime the freest imd most prosperous 
peop e on t e face of ilie earth, ar:d in 'ess than the average term of human life raising 
lis to the front rark of nations, its destruction cannot otherwise he regarded than ag 
an act of supreme madness ard folly. A people who wou'd willingly tear down such 
a Gove nuiLiit, or conser.t to its overthrow, are n't worthy of libert , for they wou'd 
manifest themselves in a[iable of appreci iting its enjiyment under i's best form. They 
woild have, lost that pas?ion for cons'itutional liV erty to which the Government 
owes its origin, and which m vrked the history of our ancestors, whose sacrifices in 
the sacred cause of huruan righti have never been surpassed in any i ge or coiintry. 
If the American Consii'ut on is now to perish, it cannot be said of it that it owed ita 
ruin toils fai'ure as political system, for history will r'cord that its success was 
pe f ct. Such was it^ success that it revolutionized tbe world by the force of its ex- 
am le. and gave an impulse to the cause of freedom that will be felt to the remotest 
prriod f lime. Great will be the crime of those who are implicated in the overthrow 
of such a beneficent Government, the source of presious bles ings to themselves and 
the world, the gre t p ilitic il light of the age, 'he ark in which rest the hopes of man- 
kind. Amid its i uins, in darkness and despair, they wi 1 bemoan thtir own infatua- 
tion, and h-ap cur.-es on the heads of the wicked men who undermined the edifice of 
American liberty. 

We are told, sir, however, in a melo-dramatic style, that this is a contest between 
liberty and de potism — the latter being represented by the Federal Government, and 
the former by the s. ceding States. For my part, I have always understood that the 
Constitution of the United States was the concentration of all the elements of liberty 
scattered throughout the constitutions of ancient and modern Governments; that it 
was the very essence of well-regulated, popular liberty. To image this, the funda- 
mental idea of the Constitution, we are soon to crown this magnificent structure that 
is rising above our heais with tlie statue of Liberty. Before we have raised this em- 
Pudiment of American political sentiment, we are told that we worship at a false 



Bhrine; that the Government which we owe to the valor and wisdom of the great 
men of the Revolution is not worthy of our affections; that it is an engine of tyranny 
and oppression. It may be, sir, that both the world and ourselves have been de- 
ceived as to the real character of this Government, and that all the prodigies ascribed 
to it are due to some other cause; but if it be so, it will be the most astonishing hal- 
lucination that ever infected the mind of man. I rather think that they are laboring 
under a mental blindness who cannot see and acknowledge what all the world is coa- 
scious of. It is not the first time that the names of things have been perverted; that 
good has been made bad, and bad good; th it liberty has been called despotism, and 
despotism liberty. The proceedings in the sec ding States do uot cerla'nly show 
much respect for law and order, the bases on which rest all liberty. The hanging of 
men on s spicion, and at the hue and cry of an excited multitude; the tarring and 
feathering of others on secret denunciation, and without any show of justice; the 
seizure and plunder of the Federal forts and arsenals do not look like the acts of men 
who have learned to respect the rights and property of others, and to s bmit to the 
restra nts of law. They rather indicate a d sposition to set up passion in place of 
reason; to install mob violence in the place of judicial justice; and to trample down 
the first principles of political liberty. 

Wt at has the Federal Government done to justify th^se assaults on its existence? 
Has it proved false to its obligations? Has it invaded the rights of the States, or 
used its p'.wtrs oppressively and to the injury of the people of the seceding States? 
No allegation of this k^nd is made ; and in vain may we seek for any provocation on 
its part. A fugitive slave law has been enacted, the stringeut provisions of which 
fulfill every rf quirement of the Constitution. It has in every case been successfully 
enforced, though often at great expense, and at the point of the bayonet. Repugnant 
as it is to the feelings of a large proportion of the people of the North, it has been 
submitted to, and no slave has been wrested from ths grasp of Federal authority. 
The invasion of a slave State for the purpose of exc tirg a servile insurrect'on was 
promptly put down by Federal troops; and the whole military and naval p jwer of 
the Republic would be employed to suppress such movements in the slave States. 
Slavery, as it exists in the States, enjoys a guarantee under the Federal Constitution 
such as it can receive from no other sourc '. With its destruction, the institution of 
slavery will receive a shock that must seriously affect the va'ue of slave property; 
impairing, as it will, its security, by the loss of the powerful protect on it once en- 
joyed. In the event of a division of the free and slave States into two separate con- 
federations, slaves escaping from the latter iuto the former would not be restored. 
This would lead to great losses, as the certainty of freedom would constantly stimu- 
late them to flight into the free States. 

Disunion, sooner or later, through one means or another, would lead to the ruin tf 
the slave States. They would be surrounde 1 on all sides by free States ; for, it is not 
to be supposed that Mexico would ever join a slave State confederation after having 
Ebolishtd slavery on its own soil. Slave labor could not thus be transported from 
the exhausted lands of the cotton States to contiguous regions fresh in soil and of 
congenial productions. The slave States now form part of a Government which com- 
mands the respect of the world by its power and its energy and its free institutions. 
An exclusively slave State confederacy would constitute an exception to all other Gov- 
ernments in this age of the world. It would not enlist the sympathies of the leading 
States of Europe, averse, as they are known to be, to the extension, and existence even, 
of negro slavery. It could not be formidable in power, owing to the division of its 
population into free and slave, the latter in all probability preponderating. Being 



almost exclusively a planting and agricultural community, it would want that diversity 
of pursuits and interests which make a nation rich and powerful. It could not have 
within itself all the elements of ma'erial independence, as the United States now po§*«- 
sesses, and which enable it to treat on a footing of equality with other leading na- 
tions. It woulil necessarily occupy a dependent and inferior position among the 
community of nations. Its citizens would not, consequently, be animated by that 
national pride that naturally belongs to the members of a first class power, like that 
of the United States of North America; nor would they enjoy such a protection as 
that which is derived from a Government whose power is known and feared through- 
out the world. 

In an economical point of view, the advantages of secession are yet less discernible. 
The Government of the United States is the cheapest in the world, and carried on 
with less expense than any other, to its people. Supported almost entirely by the rev- 
enue from customs, it imposes no perceptible burdens on the people. It is, indeed, sir, 
next to impossible for any one to say how much he contributes to the'support of the 
Federal Government. Were the average revenue of $60,000,000 derived from customs 
divided among the whole population, it would <^ly amount to a tax of two dolhirs per 
head. For all this, the citizen receives the protection of a Government whose flag is 
honored and respected in the most remote regions of the world. For this light bur- 
den — if, indeed, it be actually imposed on him at all^-he is entitled to have the whole 
milit.u-y and naval force of the country arrayed in his defence or for the redress of his 
wrongs, no matter in what distant quarter of the globe he may have suffered insult, 
outrage, or pecuniary spoli.ition, from other Powers. The title of American citizen, at 
the present day, wherever asserted, in the semi-barbarous kingdoms of the East, or , 
among the Christian Stales of Europe, secures for him who bears it an immunity from 
wrong equal to that which the title of Roman citizen carried with it when the ancient 
mistress of the world was at the height of her power and glory. Are the people of 
the seceding States — I mean, sir, the people, not the venal and selfish politicians — 
ready to sacrifice the privilege of citizenship of this great Republic, with all its appur- 
tenant prerogatives, and to sink into citizens of a small and feeble confederacy? Are 
they ready to surrender the stars and stripes, with all the hallowed traditions that 
surround them, and to supplant that standard of freedom and victory with one un- 
known to fame, and which never can secure for itself that moral power which, like a 
halo, envelopes the flsig of the Union ? I cannot believe that all pride in our past his- 
tory, and in our present position as chief among the nations, exerting Ihe greatest in- 
fluence on the fortunes of the human family, is extinguished among the people of the 
cotton States. I choose rather, sir, to believe that the heart of the genuine people 
there is yet sound, and that American patriotism burns in their hearts with as pure a 
flame as ever. They may be deceived for a time by unscrupulous politicians, and be 
involved in the meshes of intrigue to such a degree that it may be diflicult for them 
to extricate themselves ; but, sooner or later, when they realize the folly of the experi- 
ment they have bfen induced .o make by corrupt political leaders, their loyalty to the 
Union will revive in all its original intensity. 

If free, trade is to be the policy of the secession government, after it shall have dis- 
pensed with the provisional adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and es- 
tablished a new and permanent system, direct taxation must be the only means of gov- 
ernment suppo. t. From this, source alone must the army and navy expenditures be 
sustained, and they will cost at least, per annum, fifteen or twenty million dollars. 
Then, there will be the heavy cost of the civil list, and the diplomatic establishment, 
kc, making in all, for a mixed population of white and black ot little more than four 



8 

million, .'in nnnii:il < xp<v.(V' ur<-^ nf ^t lea.<t ?;^0,00a 000. All this nmsl b ■ ruined bj « 
c jiiiatioii anil jirci.frty ti'.x, ft' .ting alike the rich ani th- poor, aii.l rear' in,? tlie 
pockets of everj- mun, however liumble in condition anil jioor in tuenns. Men who 
have lived under th^ Govcrnrrunt of the United .State?, p irtic'ptiting in alt its invalu- 
able privil ge?, and its slirnulHting influence on individual and national profperitj, 
without the consciousness of being taxed for its support, will not lon<r r. m in contented 
under an ixjionsive system like that proj)o.-ed in the cottm Stat*--, the b irdens of 
which will rest oppress velv on ewvy nun'd ^ho .Iders iu the community. They will 
not fail to instit.ii'te un'avi-niltle cninparisons b: twe n tlie economical Governoaent 
which their political Icudcis assumed to r'-nounce in their name, but witimut iheir ex- 
I>ress authority, and that und>T which they .ire so heavily taxed. The great revolu- 
tions have arisen from this very ca ise, and many » str ng-set throne and uncient \>ci- 
litical system has been suddenly oveiturned by a people vexed and har.issed by the 
burdensome ta.vation of an extravagant and costly Government. When a man finds 
tb-at the hard-earned fruits of his ind'istry are sSriotisIy encroiched on by h'S rulers, 
and that he is oblig d to surrender to the GovL-rnnifnt what is necessary to the com- 
fort and independence of his nrniily, a .spirit of discontent is kindled in the general 
mass of the community, which, when least expected, breaks forth with volcanic fa:y, 
carrying desolation and destruction before it, and uprooting everything in its p.i'h. 

To guard against these discontents, or to repress them, ir will be necessary to limit 
the right of sutfrjige, atid c nSue it to the l.irger propi-rty-Loldcrs. Here ^viii tie an- 
other invidious point of contrast betwteu the Uuitcd St^ttes and the se ession confed- 
eracy. The poor man will recollect that in the former, so far as individual influencfi 
affected the national destiny through ihe ballot-box, h's sufTfiige w.is as potential aa 
that of the most favored son of to tune. He will remember how his infiiienee was 
courted in the popular forum ; how his individuality was felt by famsclf hcd recog- 
nised by others. To be deprived of such a privilege — lo be denied ihe power of be- 
stowing or holding political station — will sink him in his own estimation, ;i!id reduce 
him to the level of a feudal serf. G'laded to desperation by impotttinate ta.xgitherrrs. 
and be eft of the fiist attributes of an American freeman, he will not remain in a 
country where every day he grows poorer, and is exposed to n-w vexitions and in.iul s. 
Tempted by the cheap lands of the West, th.e [iromiaing '"u'ure that is hi Id out to every 
one u der the United States Governmen , and by the dignity and equality of its citi- 
zenship, he will gather his fimily around him, and again seek shelter beneath the 
CJovernraent of his forefathers. We shall see a continual exolus of the poor whit«t 
population from the Southern confederacy into the Uttiied .States territory, if its polit- 
ical institutions shall be what its priijector design them to be. With no incoming 
tide of emigration to supply the v.ar,te of tiiis outward movemeu!, bow rapidly and 
surely must the secession St ti s decline in powir, ; ro.^pe'-ity, weuhh, and consf tjuencf •! 

Why, then, venture on such a dargerous experiment? [They w.mt a strot.g r gov- 
ernment, said Mr. Nelso.n, of Tennetsee.] " A stronger government," says my e'oqueut 
and Union-loving friend from Tennessee. Wiiat s ronger Goverunient can they desir« 
than one which rests on the popula- affections, which is controlled by the popular 
wi 1, and lives and moves for the wel!-b ina: of the people, fo whose bieath it owes 
all its vitality ? There can be no strongtr Guverrmeiit than that of the United States, 
unless it be one that is four.dtd on bru'- force. Our's is based on public op'n or, 
which can fashion it to its own purposes, a d which, it is to be [ire.^uip.f d, h iving 
such a foundation, cun iiever be perverted to the g nera' iiijuty. It has stood firm 
and unshaken amid f e political tf mpests which 1 ave swept, like an Asiatic typhoon, 
over the Old World, up ooting the most ancient and tolid political structures, Pubr.c 



opinion Las fluefuated likt- ilic wves of the «eH, < han^itig, from timf- to time, its 
policy, but never varying a^ to the duty aiid rif((?s t_v of inaintainin;; it nnimpaired 
in its primitive vigor. Political pnriifs Vrtve riffsi i.r.ri fallen, and fiere h s b^e fiie 
Strife for powe and place betwet-u them : Ini' the Cor.s"itiiiion has eto )d, lik-^ a solid 
column, immovable ou its deep-i-i b„s •. Tijt-re ;ire those who, iiiiin:5truc:ed by the- 
lessons of Lislo^y, still i)er.-it.t in the < p i;iim that mat;kiini are more trtVotuaily con- 
trolled bj brute force thai Hy moral tone. It my be thai ilie f-undir? of the pro- 
jected gov.rrnnif-iil in the cotton StattS are of iLis class; and it would se ni ha th. t 
are, to judge thtni by th ir snetrs on the weaktitss ol the Fcder.i! Gove rnnient. 

They are disgusted with the vulgnri^y of h Goverim'-nt ovfr which the profanum 
cm/^«s have an tqual control wi:h lh>' more wealihy a d r, fined. lis sim licity is 
significant of imbcciKty, rather ih-nof sireng'h t.) these pobtical empirics. Thi-"r 
ideaof [lo'i i-al power i.- represented by phvsi-al force— b;. b.iyonets, si.i: ding armies, 
and by all the pom[. ai,d circumstance of mditi y p^^rad- that surrounds lie thrones 
of Eu o,.e. Their nostrils re ofre:id<d by too near a contact with the dem-cra ic 
masses, and they sigh for the divinit- that hedg s a kin^ ; for a condi'on of things 
in which the many sh 1! be su j^n-t to the rule of the few ; in wl ic'i the ma-ses shall 
be the soft, easy cushion.^ on which p- litical s'ugErnrds and knaves may repose and 
fatten. D th y Jaj the flittering urcnon to their i^ouls that a people bred up under 
the pe.fect freedum of the Auu'riciu (%tn-'itu'ion (o i sen:^e of political .quU t , and 
to the uu ramme'ed use of 'h ir m >r .1 f.'-u ii s. can ev. r be pc suadcd or fcrc: d into 
such a pytteni of.Goxe i m'lit. so dir'-clly m c : flio wi" t! e spiiit of rrpublican in- 
Stitalioiio? N vtr! n ve: ! .-ir, w ill a p.-o[ 1 , who La.ve once eij-yed 1 o vrty in all 
the [deni.ude that we pos3>-ss it, v ill i.^ly i>art wiih it; or, havin been inveigl d into 
its suncudcr f>.r a lime, lji;g r main pa.-.4'e b' utath ihe iroti hi el of d' magogic des- 
potism '.' N nc appreViate 1 beriy eo krjly as they who, ha ing once possessed ir. 
Lave lo.-l it. None ch. lish the blesed lig'.t of day with ruch rapluro is zest as those 
whose orbs, cnce refulgtnt with its \ivifyiig beams, have been sei.l^d, in darknes?. 
A Governmenf, founded in fear i.f the p-o; 1-. in this j ge, and in this hemisph-re, will 
have a s ort livtd duration. The popiil ir mass miy be buried beneath the superin- 
cumbent weight of de.-j.otic « ligarch\ ; bu', like the fal Id giiml E .c.ladus * nea h 
the Sicilian mountain, its sHu^-gling thnuVw 1! .~h..ke he woill to its centre by its 
convulsive muvemei.'s fo ' lrb« r y. 

Fear ^f Ihe people, Mr. Spc aker, is the first s'.gn of a di-sj.otic t-mpcr. .\n 1 has n. t 
this cowardly passion ahe.dy exhibited itself in a most ttriKi' g ni inner in the con- 
duct of the secess on 'cub-r.-^? They have i.ot dartd, in a sirgle instance, to submit 
their ordinances of ^ece'sion'to the judgment of the sove eign pfOjle. Tl.ey cither in- 
solently defy the popular will, or they j.isily fear that the i)eoidp, possessing more loy- 
alty than th-mselvcs to tlie l.'.ion, would chas'ise their u^ur[.ed authotity wih signal 
condemnation. They set themselves above the [iC )pl" ; they preume to dittnte »0 
them, and to impose on them such a form of governmt nt as tl.< y choose. If they cm 
establish, of their own ree will, any political system, as thry seem to thi; k, without 
coD^ultuti.n with the people on whom it is im[.o.eed, t' ey can create a desp tism or 
monarchy as well as a bastard r( pubic. How does all lb s tin id sliritiking 'rora pub- 
lic cen-^ure contrast with the aclii)n of the wise and great men who framed the Consti- 
tution of the Uaiied Stales? They believed tliat government, being in^.f.tnted for the 
benefit f the m.my, should be sanctioned by their approva'. They regarded thenl- 
eelvcs merely as Ihe agents fur Ine p ople, acting in their behalf and for their inter- 
ests , and they deemed their work incomple'e until crowned with the popular sanction. 
1 he overthrow of such a Government, with such an origin, is treason against the whole 



10 

body of the people. The overthrow of a secession government, never ratified by the 
people, and established in defiance of the popular will, is a righteous revolution, and 
reclamation of the usurped rights and sovereignty of the people. A government so 
instituted has no firm foundation, because it is an usurpation of the legitimate author- 
ity. Unstable as the sand, unsubstantial as the pa'aces, domes, and turrets of the 
Fata Morgana in the Sicilian straits, it will dissolve like a vision, or be swept away 
before the first gust of popular passion. 

Among the strange notions of the day, Mr. Speaker, that of the superior claims of a 
State to the allegiance of its citizens over the Federal Government is — if there can be 
any superlative among these rival absurdities — the most extraordinary. It is lament- 
able to witness the facility with which men of honor, who, as a condition of entering 
on the public service, have taken an oath to the Constitut'on and laws of the United 
States as the paramount authority of the land, ca coolly and deliberately violate their 
sworn obligations. If the Federal Government can thus readily be betrayed to do- 
mestic enemies, can its defence against a foreign foe, or fidelity to it in the hour of 
external danger, be expected from such disloyal servants? The times are indeed out 
of joint, when men of honorable calling and reputation can thus forswear themselves, 
and, under the very eaves of the Capitol, can join in secret league with State conspir- 
ators for the destruction of the National Government. For my pa'-t, sir, I wish it to be 
distinctly understood that I renounce all such heresies. Having taken an oath to 
support the Constitution of the United States, I intend to observe it. If the State 
which I have the honor in part to represent should set herself in treasonable array 
against the Federal authority, I shall stand by the latter. If she should vote herself 
out of the Union, I shall not go with her, but I will cling to the Union to the last. 
Proud as I am of my birthright as a Pennsylvanian, I am yet prouder of my title of au 
American citizen. American citizenship clothes me with the pano.ly of this great 
Government wherever I g), and it is my duty to defend the power that covers me with 
its shield. The nation is represented i y the Federal Governm nt, and when it is as- 
sailed, our life as a people is at stake. Above all other questions, that of the preser- 
vation of our nationality rises pre-eminent. No State pretensions should be allowed 
to come in conflict with a mighty interest like this, that concerns the whole people — 
that is so closely connected with the political welfare of the world at large. 

If, sir, any one has a right to be proud of his native State, a Pennsylvanian surely 
has. No State in the Union possesses more of the requisites for independent existence 
than Pennsylvania. Seated between two great rivers, one of which gives easy access 
to the Atlantic and to intercourse with the Old World, and the other washing the 
shores of the great States of the West and South, a d -interlocking with the water- 
courses, whose navigable tides penetrate the innermost heart of the continent, sheen- 
joys the most admirable facilities for trade and commerce. Within her mountain ranges 
lie imbedded inexhaustible deposits of coal and iron, of far greater value to her than 
the " wealth of Ormus and of Ind," and which will ever make other parts of the coun- 
try dependent on her. Their slopes and summits are covered with all the chief vari- 
eties of useful timber ; and the valleys which lie among them, and the broad plains 
that stretch &w\j from their feet, yield abundant crops of the grains which furnish 
the staple food of man. A healthy and vigorating climate nourishes a brave and en- 
terprising pe(;ple, made up of the best races of Europe, who have contributed much to 
the common glory of the nation by their discoveries in the arts and sciences, their 
valor in the field, and their statesmanship in the Cabinet. Favored, as she is, by Heav- 
en in all that makes up the greatness of a State, Pennsylvania, sir, v?ill yet never de- 
sert the Union. With its maintenance, her own prosperity is inseparably linked. It 



11 

binds her in chains of love with sister States, with whose destiny her own is inter- 
twined. She regards the Constitution as a guardian genius, whose eye never slum- 
bers, and which is ever w:itchful to promote the welfare and defend the security of all 
whose interests it has in keeping. She will pour out her last drop of blood in its de- 
fence, and exhaust all her resources to maintain it against a world in arms. Let other 
States court eternal infamy by conspiring its destruction; she will prove anew her loy- 
alty to the motto of her shield, " Virtue, liberty, and independence," by rallying around 
it with her brawny sons of labor, and defending it to the last, in the darkest hour of its 
peril. 

Disposed as I am, sir, to do all that in honor I can do to remove the present troubles, 
and to guard against their recurrence, I must confess that, so long as the right of se- 
cession is maintained, I shall have but little faith in the stability or duration of the 
National Government. Already it has demoralized our standing as a people, and, 
from being one of the most powerful, we are now among the weakest of nations. A 
nation that has no coherence among its component parts, that may at any moment be 
torn asunder by internal dissensions, or be dissolved by the withdrawal of any of its 
members, cannqt bp said to have a permanent or self-sustaining existence. Other na- 
tions will have but little confidence in such a Government, and will be chary of enter- 
ing into treaties of reciprocal obligations and benefits with it; not having, as they 
cannot have, any pledge that the nationality with which they have negotiated will be 
maint;^iI!ed. This right must be abandoned, as unwarranted by the Constitution, and 
at war vrith the best interests of the country, or we shall be as constant a prey to rev- 
olutions SL3 the distracted republics of South America. 

Look at our position before this fatal right of secession was asserted, and compare 
it with what it is now. With a smaller navy than any of the great Powers, our flag 
challenged for the vessels it covered as much respect as that of England or France. 
Power, a keen sensitiveness to wrong, and promptness in seeking redress, were the 
ideas associated with the Republic of the United States. Unanimity of popular senti- 
ment accompanied the action of the Government, and a wrong to an individual Amer- 
ican was regarded as an injury that every citizen of the nation would feel and resent. 
Provocation to such a people was eagerly avoided and justly dreaded. But, sir, I fear 
that this enforced respect is gone, and that we have lost, or will soon lose, if the right 
of secession becomes a fixed article in ourpoiiticsl creed, the jam^^^-e that has hitherto 
surrounded the brow of this young nation. Such has been the blighting effect of se- 
cession on our national reputation, that it may be said of the Republic, as Antony said 
of Ca-'sar, in his funeral oration in the forum : 

" But yesterday, the word of CjBsar might 
Have stood against the world ; now lies he there, 
And none so poor to do him reverence." 
The opinion of the framers of the Constitution on this anarchial doctrine is clearly 
given in the reply of Mr. Madison to the letter of Alexander Hamilton, dated Pough- 
keepsie, July 1788, announcing the proposal of New York to join the Union for five or 
six years, with the right then to withdraw, if she desired. Mr. Hamilton says : 

"You will understand that the only qualification will be the reservation of a right 
to secede, in case our amendments have not been decided upon, in one of the moaes 
pointed out \ y the Constitution, within a certain number of years, perhaps hve or 
seven. It this can, in the first instance, be admitted as a ratification, 1 do nat tear 
any further consequences. Congress will, I presume, recommend certain amenoments 
to render the structure of the Government more secure. This will s.ati-*y t^ie more 
considerate and honest opposers of the Constitution, and with the aid of them will 
break up the party.' 



12 

Mr. M di-oii's rpp^v s _v- : 

New VoiiK Siiri'Int/ (Vfiii/it/. 

My Deau :'i!t: Vours o ^e^ur(^i3 is ilA^ itutiinl m liHiid, and 1 liave bu'. a t«.v min- 
utes t-jiiri.*w<r it. I am sorry hni .your ?iiu.irion ohliy:e< 3011 to listen tj propositioit* 
of the nature you df-cri ■'p. My opinion i , rli:it a re.^ervatioa of a right t > wiihdriw, 
if ameiiduKMits tie noi derided 011 under die form of tli'' Ciustituiiou vvii.hin n cert.ai i 
time, is a conlilional rat li .ition ; thar, il dx-a not mike New Yoilt a member of the 
new tJaiuti, and, con^'eq leiifl , lli.u .-iiie, jhoul i not bf received cm th.it plan. Com- 
pai'ts m'lst be reeii'ro'jai ; tiii-i pri n-iple would ".or, m ?n 'h c.ise, be preiervi-d The 
Consiitii;i.:)n n quires an ndoption in I >to in. I f.jre "er. It has been ?o adopt.ed hv the 
other .Slaleci. An adoption f.jr a imi e i lime wou d be as de ectivj a-- an aioiitioa of 
some of the art ele9 only. I'l .-hjri, my condili )n w latever must vitiate tho ritifi>-a- 
tion. What the new ('.iptjicss, by vi-tne of the power to admit new Slates, may ba 
ifllffe and disposed to do i.i .-'iuh :i «u-e, 1 d.j not inquire ; and I sujipose that is not 
the material point at preseut I h.ive not a mom nt to ad i more than m/ fervent 
wishes for }our suceess and ImppiniBt:. The id a of reservi'ig th - right to withdraw 
was storied at Ri.lmai.d, and •ousidend as a conditional ratifieatioM, whi -h vv;.s it- 
sc f abani'jrud— w r^e thttii iejt:?lion Vours, J iMK-5 MAD'SQX. 

New Y(^rk .ibaadoned her elaim, hik! ad >pted rhe (Constitution i>i loto and forever, as 
did the ciiliCi- States. 

If the right of se(•es&i^.Il is 'ound to be ind (ensible, the rij;ht of revolution i.s as- 
serted. Cei tainly, that right eui uo m.'.re be de.iied than the right uf self delence ; 
but it cm on y be c,Yeicise(i as u last re-oii in a case of cle.-ir necessity, and vthen 
every elf;rt has b',-tn ^-xhausted to ubtain a redress of gi ievauce.-i. Cm any .Sl''e niiW 
justity its re.-ori to mi- primitive righi ? ;S>uili Uarolina and her colleag .es of the 
cotton St.ites se'-c le from tlie IJiiion, not f om Hiiy wr-mg done them by the FederU 
tr..vernniint, but from ajiprehe'isions uf .ig re; ion on ihe lights of the glHVch(_)!din{j 
States by ihc i-couiiug Admiriistraiion, aud 1 cj u.■^e of cerlHin laws of =oni>- of thp 
free .'■ta'es, which, it is ai eged, were enacted for the purpose of nullifying the fugitive 
slave Inw. The ans^ver 10 the latter brau.-ii of thi-< charge 'S, that these laws were 
passed for the purpose of preventiug the kidnapping o tree negroes, and that they h ive 
never been Mpjdied to tlie obstruction of the oper tion of the fugitive slave b.w. So 
far as execiiMon goes, they are a dead leiter; and if they be unconsiitutioii .1, as it Is 
said they are, any atiem, t o [>ut them ia force would immediately present a case for 
decisi' n on that poin in the Fe leral courts. So long as the Suprenje Court of the 
Uiiittd States exi-S'S as an arbit.. r lietv.efu ifu St,ati-s and the legislation o' the ii'ederal 
Government, no Sca'e is just fiibie in resor'ing to revolution until it hMS c ir ied its 
grievances, ariJug out of hortil State iegi-l.itiou, before that tiibunal,and has tailed to 
obtain the r dress to which it, i.-> euiillcd. Str uige to say, sir, the constitutionaiit'-' of 
these l.'.ws has nevtr Net been call d in questii^n before this high couit of judicature 
by even South Carolina herself, the most clamorous of the seceding States, a:id the 
on- which vindicijes its l.iwless acti.)U by tl.e so-c lied personal liberty law^ 

If tijis pretext for revolu' on or sei e^sioll, as the case may be, fails to be satis- 
factory, it is asserteii that the free and s'ave States can no longf-r live tog ther in 
the same Uaon ; b. cause ihe people of the former entertain an inveterate hostility 
to the iuaiiiutioii 01 slavery, and strcjug [.njudices aguinst slaveholders. It is un- 
doubtedly true that the people of the IVee St.ites are opposed to the extension of 
slavery ; and they are not singu'ar in this. Some of the grex.ttst Statesmen 
of the South— such as Washington, J If rso;i, 1' itrics Heniy, Madison, and Clay— 
held the same vi. ws. W'- have, liowpver, sir, thu- far lived in peacy together, a3 
free and slave S'ates, f.r three ii'iarters of a ceatury ; .and I know no reason 
why we cannot continue to do : o. The personal pr'jilices wh ch are said to 
exist have uo fouada iou ia fact, except in the part of z.-alots, who would be as 



13 

implacable on any other fixed idea as on ths sut ject of slavery. To say that anj 
considerable body of the people of the North claim to hnve a constitutional right 
to interfere with slafery in the States, is to assert what is not true. No such 
pretensions have ever Vjeen advanced in Horgi-ess, and no such right is known to 
exist under the Constitution. The people of the South have no more reason to 
fear an interference with slavery in the States by Congress than they have to fear 
an invasion of Mongolian Tartars from the steppes of A=!ia. 

The future historian wi'l be puzzled to fi- d any rational cause for the diiSO- 
lation of the Uiiion in the reasons generallj assigned, and he will rightfully 
conclude that it was the result of a deep-lad and long-devised conspiracy. The 
chief conspirator he will find to be the State of South Ci-rolind, which, under the 
inspira'ion of its great sectional statesman, Mr. Calhoun, wis for a q la ter of a 
century nffected with a chronic hostility to the Uci^n. Failing to break it up in 
1832, on the cry of an 0['pre?aive tariff, and owir.g to the vigorous conduct of 
General J.ackson in putting down the nascent rebellion of that time, a new pretext 
for treasonable warfare against its dur ition was started ou the slavery (juest on. 
Mr. Benton, in his examination of the D.ed S:ott case, says: 

"On his retu ning home from C ngresF, Mr. C.ilhoun told his friends that the 
South could never be united against the North on the -arilT question; that the 
sugar interest of Louisiana wculd ieep l.er out, and that the basis of Southern 
Union must be yhificd to Ihe slave question; and shifted accordingly it immediately 
was. Incontinenil;', all ibe null ficalit)u nev/spap'-rs opened lor secession for that 
new cause, tilljntc the country with alarm lor die s^.f ly of slave property, and 
spreading the terrors of servile insurrec'i'm — infvit i' I.- cm^tq-iences of abolition 
fiesigns. ' 

This out ry has been continued to the present day, and Congress has been made 
the arena of the most panionato opje^ls to the pifjUdiccs of the people c-f the 
South ugiinst the North; of the ra jst unfounded ciiarge--, t'me and again refuted 
as the coinage o"' distempered tirains, or as the falsiticatious ■ f designing and 
desperate demagogues, whose real aim was to emhroi; the North and South in a 
war of sections, and thus promote the unholy and wicked purposes of the enemies 
of the Union and American liberty. 

That conspiracy has now culminated, and South Cdrolina rejoices, while the 
edifice of the Union is in flam"s, with all its altars dedicated to liberty, nnd its 
rich repository of moral and political knowledge put in peril of being scattered to 
the win<ls, like the treasures of the Alex indrine library. The Goths and Vandals 
raised not a wilder and more exulting shout over the ruins of imperial Home than 
the South Carolina conspirators over the prospect of dissolutioa and rnin of the 
American Union. Nero, fiddling while Rome wis burning, is a type of the men 
who exult at a yet more destructive contiagration, in which a world's hopes will 
be consumed. Says Mr. Rhctt, in the South Carolina convention: 

" The secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is net anything 
produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execuiiou of the fugitive slave 
law. It haj been a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years." 

Ill the same body the following remarks of a like tenor were m;de: 

'• Mr. pAUKK.it. Mr. President, it appears to me, with great dsference to the opin- 
ions that have been exp-essed, that the public mind is fully made up to the great 
occasion that now awaits tis. It ia ho spasmodic effort that has como suddenly 
upon us, but it has been gradually culmiuatiug for a long'se.-ies of years, and at 
last it has com? to that point when we miy say the mitter is eulireiy right. 

"Mr. I.S0I.I3. Mr. President, it there is mw gentl-m^n present who wii'hes to 
debate this matter, of course this body will hear him: but a.^ to delay for the 
purpose of a discussion, I, for one, I am opposed to it. As ray friend [Mr. Parker] 



14 

has said, most of us have had this matter under consideration for the last twenty 
years, and I presume we have by this time arrived at a decision upon the subject. 

" Mr. Keitt. Sir, we are performing a great act, which involves not only the 
stirrin present, but emb^-aces the whole great future of ages to come. I have 
been engaged in this movement ever since I entered political life. I am content with 
what has b^en done to-day, and content with what will take place to-morrow. We 
have carried the body of this Unioa to its last resting-place, and now we will drop 
the fl g over its grave. After that is done, 1 am ready to adjourn, and leave the 
remaining c reraonies for to-morrow." 

All these declarations go to show that an organized conspiracy has existed for 
more than twenty years in South Carolina to dissolve the Union, and that the modern 
pretexts are mere shams. Is it possible, Mr. Speaker, that the mother of States — 
Virginia — can be made an instrument of South Caroliiia in carrying out her criminal 
designs against the Union? Will the land of Clay and Jackson, and the patriotic 
State of North Carolina, consent to play a secondary part to South Carolina, and be 
driven by her into a war against the Union? I cannot believe it, sir. Treason has 
never found a congenial soil in the patriotic States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
North Carolina, and I fervently hope it never may. It is in their power to stem 
the tide of rebellion, and, like an insurmountable barrier, to turn it back to its 
fountain-head, and thus arre -t its ravages on the peace and prosperity of the country. 

As I said, sir, in the outset of my remarks, I am willing to vote for any honorable 
plan of settlement. I do not think the Crittenden propositions, as they now stand, 
have any chance of adojition by Congress ; but I will cheerfully vote to refer them 
to the people, and abide their decision. The border State plan is less objectionable, 
and, if I understand it aright, I can vote for it without any compromise of principle. 
For the propositions of the committee of thirty-three I shall vote with great plea- 
sure ; and it seems to me they ought to satisfy every reasonable man. The admis- 
sion of New Mexico as a State, as proposed, will introduce into the Union all the 
territory south of 36° 30', and which is at all adapted to slave labor. That slavery 
will be established there I doubt, as the climate and products of that Territory do 
not require slave labor for the development of its scanty resources. When New 
Mexico is admiited as a State, we shall be rid of the slavery question, so far as it 
depends on the present territory of the United States, and there will be, I trust, a 
lasting peace on that troublesome question. 

Should all other propositions fail, I will bring forward the following, as an amend- 
ment to the Constitution : 

"Neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature shall make any law respecting 
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime; but Congress may pass 
laws for the srppression of the African slave trade, and for the rendition of fugitives 
from labor or service in the States." 

The ol'ject of this amendment would be to forever banish the question of slavery 
from congressional or territorial legislation. The history of the legislation of Con- 
gress on this subj't'ct is a history of fruitless agitation; and it has of late become 
evident that it cannot legislate upon slavery to a finality, or without endangering 
the tr;,nquill;iy and union of the States. The Missouri compromise, established as a 
bond of peace between the North and South in 1820, was repealed in 1854; and 
since that time the attention of CDngress has for the most part been occupied with 
irritating and unprofitab'e discussions on the slavery question. I have faith in the 
people. We cannot overrule their predetermined will, and if they wish slavery we 
cannot prevent them from tolerating it in the constitution of a new State, and we 
cannot oblige them to exclude ii. It is agreed on all sides that we have no right 
to reject the application of a State for admission to the Union, because of its domestic 



15 

institution?; and even if we had, when the State is admitted its people can modify 
their constitution according to their own llliing. As we cannot force slavery upon a 
people of a State who do not desire it, noiv deprive them of it if they see fit to tole- 
rate it, all our legislation must be temporary, and confined to the term of territorial 
probation. Why not dispense with the exercise of thej>ower of prohibition, and take 
the risk of the popular decision ? If the advocates of slavery protection by Federal 
legislation, aad of pop ilar sovereignty in the Territories, will surrender their rfspec- 
tive claims, I am willing, by way of compromise, to waive the right to prohibit by 
Federal legis'ation, and thus to remand the whole question of slavery back to the 
popular arbitrament. Such an amendment as I propose, all other plans of compro- 
mise failing, would at least pacify the country by expelling the question of slavery 
from Congrea^. Under the decision of the Supreme Court, (if it has really made 
8ucb a decision,) slaveholders have a right to take their slaves into the Territories, 
and to ho d them there until they are ruled out, or admitted by the State constitution. 
As long as that decision stands, m congressional legislation can invalidate it, and we 
must, therefore, aot accordingly. Such an amendment as that which I propose, Mr. 
Speaker, would allay a'l apprehensions of the interference of Congre-s with slavery 
in the States, the District of Columbia, &c., as it would deprive Congress of all power 
over t'le subject. It is also not obvious to the objections which must always exist 
against a geograjibical line of division — that of perpetuating sectional distinctions. 
I have no desiro to press this amendment; but, if a durable peace on the slavery 
question is desired, I venture to suggest thit some such proposition is the only one 
by which it caa bf secured. I have every reason to believe that the interests of free- 
dom would not suffer by its adoption ; for one, I am willing to hazird the unbiassed 
judgmeat of the people on the subject. 

I d'sire to say a few words on the subject of coercion, so called ; but my waning 
hour adraonislies me to lie brief. The idea of coercion is misrepresented. No one 
proposes to march the Ftderal armies into the seceding States, to subjugate them 
back into the Union. We know that it is utterly imposs ble to force into submission 
to the Union a people who are opposed to it. Were such a result achieved, we should 
only gain a reluctant al egiance from citizens whose loyally would a' ways be suspected 
and who would (breverbear in their hearts the rancor of humiliated pride. It cannot be 
done. Such a war would entail a greater expenditure of money th^n that represented 
by the national debt of England, and a greater waste of life than that of the Napoleonic 
campaigns. God for id that we should ever enfer on such a bloody and fruitless 
strife I That the Govj-rnraent ought to coll?ct the customs revenues so long as the 
seceded States are not recognised as an independent Power, and that it ought to main- 
tain possession of the more important Federal forts and arsenals, I have no manner of 
doubt. 

Above all, it should not permit the national flag to be dishonored. An insult to 
the fla,' by any pociion of the American people is as great an outrage as if committed 
by a foreign enemy. The flng of a nation is the symbol of its honor and power; 
and the patriotic sensibility of its people is wounded when it is dishonored. That 
the descendants of Sumter, Alarion, and Moultrie should ruthlessly assail the flag 
which led their brave ancestors to victory, or to a glorious death beneath its con- 
Stellated folds, is as astouishicg as their proscription of the patriotic airs of the 
Revolu ion and the war of 1812-14, for the French Marseillaise. The former comes 
down to us fieighttd with recollections of the purest and noblest struggle ever 
made for liberiy ; the latter reeks with the bloody fumes of the guillotine, beneath 
the merciless knife of which fell the beautiful, the virtuous, and the brave, in indis- 



16 

crimiD te slaughter. Is it possible that any porli n of the Anieri an ppople prefer 
the diabolic music with which the protestations of the vi tims of D mton, M.mit, :ind 
Robespierre were drowned at the' foot of the scaffold of the Rjign of Terror to 
that which in = pirited Washington, G eene, Jukon, Stewart, «nd Ducatur, in t eir 
struggle for universal libert , and fur the cause o' law, order, an.l religious and 
civil freedom? D-gcneraic, iuJeed, must be the sons of American ievolution<tr sires, 
who would supplant their own national music wi h the imported tunes of the worst 
era of FreLth licentionsu ss, infuleliiy, and mob de^poti.-m. 

Wj are told by some ihat, h wever disasirou-i the iiumediate tftVcts of . ecession 
may be, that h is better to assent to if, as we shall thus the more readily promote a 
reconstruction of the Union. " R.:tonstruclioi I" That, M-, Spealter, is a syren song 
to lure the unwary on lo the rocks of dissolution. The Uui a once dissolved, no 
reconstruction will ever take plwce We shall become a strange people to each other, 
with rival interests and hoHile feelings; and we shall rather s e> the friendship of 
foreign nations tha i that of each othe . However wise the men of the South may 
be in their own conceit, they can ntver construct a governmen' hich shall surpass 
that of Washington, Hanii ton, M ulison, and Franklin in solidity of str ngth and 
grandtur of propoitions The work of the iirst men of the greatest age of history 
c n hardly be equaled by Cobb, Keitt, Y.incey, and their 'ompeers. The Union and 
Coastitulicn a:- they are is all that Wh cnn de=i.'-e for ourseh'cs and those who ar3 to 
come after us. To the Constimtiuu vr~j owe all our individu;)! and narional pros- 
perity. It has be?n to us a pillar of I'g'it In the pist; and it will be to us in the 
future !i sure pledge of liberty and h.i;. piae.-^s We have Tied it, in weal and woe; 
and it has never disiipiioiritt d our hopes. They who vainly im gine that from its 
ruins they can construct a!,other and b.-lier f nm of government deceive themselves 
and iheir crtduloua fulKnvers. The Am^ricMn Constitution is the result of ages of 
political tst'erime .t. Such a fitiric c.mnot be erected in a day, or by ordinary 

men. 

'•A thousand years scarce ?erve to form a Sta'e; 
An huur maj lay it in thedu-it; and when 

an niiin its shaltei'd sple dors reno ate. 
Recal! its virtues back, "nii vnr (( lijh time and f.ite?" 
With the fall of the U::iori and Consiitu'ion wdl close he si-coud gr 'at epoch of 
American history. A fu ure, overcart with ch>uds of gloomy fjrboding, will Irj^m 
beyond. God grant that from its niy^TtLrious dep h-j the lu id li imes of civil war may 
not burst forth to consume the mouiuue ts of indu.Ury and fiojdom that now cover 
the land, and to destroy the last vestiges of Amtrican liberty and independence I I 
pray to God that no responsibility for such c.vlamities may rest on me, .r on those 
whos3 delegated authority I here represent. 



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